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HomeHome / Total War: Rome II / Nervii (Caesar in Gaul) / Units / Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship)
Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship) Nervii (Caesar in Gaul)Nervii (Caesar in Gaul) Artillery Ship

Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship)

With deck-mounted artillery pieces, these ships can rain down destruction on the enemy.

While generals sneer at enemy onagers, their soldiers do not.

The 'five', called a quinquereme in Latin and a penteres in Greek, was a ship first used by the Syracusans against the Carthaginians sometime around 398BC. Like other polyremes, a term meaning many-oared, the chances were that it did not have five banks of oars but that the word 'oar' was used to mean 'rower'. In such a case, the arrangement of rowers would be two-two-one going up from the waterline. It makes sense to keep as much weight as possible low in the vessel to help its stability; a high centre of gravity makes any ship liable to capsize if struck from the side. The quinquereme, then, would be a formidable vessel both in terms of appearance and combat value. With a large fighting contingent aboard and plenty of deck space, this heavy vessel could cope with most enemies and threats.

(Celtic Onager (Ship))
One of the simplest forms of one-armed catapult, the onager relied on twisted skeins of animal sinew which provided the power to hurl either rocks or shot. Inaccurate but powerful, it was an effective siege engine against buildings and fortifications, but was of far less use on the battlefield unless firing into massed infantry ranks. First mentioned by Philon of Byzantium in his treatise ‘Mechanics’, the onager had a sling-like cradle attached to a firing arm. This arm was inserted and twisted to propel its shot through torsion. As the firing arm was released, the sling-like cradle would unhook, firing the projectile. A padded beam was incorporated into the housing frame to restrain the arm. Larger machines could require as many as eight or ten crewmen, and the incredible recoil meant that they could not be easily or safely mounted on walls or towers. Quickly constructed wherever wood was readily available, onagers soon became a staple of ancient siege warfare.

Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship) Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship) Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship) Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship) Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship) Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship) Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship)
Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship)

Unit Name

Roman Artillery Quinquereme - Celtic Onager (Ship)

Main Unit Key

Cel_Onager_Five

Land Unit Key

Cel_Onager_Shp

Naval Unit Key

barbarian_roman_onager_five

Soldiers

40

Category

Medium Ship

Class

Artillery Ship

Custom Battle Cost

760

Recruitment Cost

760

Upkeep Cost

152

Ship Health

817

└ Ship

barbarian_roman_five_art

Ship Speed

3

Missile Damage

200

├ Engine

onager_ship

├ Missile Weapon

rome_onager_shp

├ Projectile

shp_rock_flammable

├ Missile Damage

130

├ Missile Ap Damage

70

└ Base Reload Time

27

Accuracy

40

Range

350

Reload

3

Shots Per Minute

2

Ammunition

1

Melee Attack

12

Weapon Damage

24

├ Melee Weapon

rome_shortsword

├ Melee Damage Base

20

├ Melee Damage Ap

4

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Large

0

├ Bonus vs Elephants

0

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

6

Melee Defence

14

├ Base Defence

14

├ Shield

none

└ Shield Defence

0

Armour

10

├ Armour

cloth

├ Armour Defence

10

└ Shield Armour

0

Health

45

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health

40

└ Bonus Hit Points

5

Base Morale

40

Abilities

Roman Artillery Quinquereme
  • Row Hard 20
    Increases speed for 20 strokes.
    Ship speed

Attributes

No Attribute

Strengths & Weaknesses

Roman Artillery Quinquereme
  • Good hull strength
  • Skeleton crew
  • Average speed
  • Average ramming
  • Abysmal boarding
  • Exceptional missile combat
Celtic Onager (Ship)
  • Long range
  • High damage with its different rounds
  • Hard to destroy
  • Inaccurate
  • Average rate of fire
Faction Availability
Grand Campaign
Samnite Wars
Caesar in Gaul
Hannibal at the Gates
Imperator Augustus